asa Viento offers several choices of rental equipment and beach location. We can steer you to the package that best suits your abilities, brand and ambiance preferences. All gear is 2002 product, rigged and ready, with adjustable harness lines, minutes from your room. All the clubs have shade, chairs, and snack bars. We can arrange kayak or surf trips as well.

Information for the following equipment sources is available here:

• Planet Windsurfing
• The Happy Center
• Margarita Extreme

Planet Windsurfing

Planet Windsurfing offers an international flavor with English as the primary language. The center is owned and operated by Udo Peissert and his wife Geralda. Udo has worked as a manager and instructor in Margarita for many years. Udo is the head instructor. Jorg, a very articulate and friendly young Dutchman, will be in charge of lessons and will give 3 free clinics per week, in English, to Planet guests. The seminars will last about an hour and cover a broad range of subjects like beachstarts, waterstarts, tacks, jibing, speed and jumping. Jorg will again be assisted by Leo, who is one of the hottest local sailors on the beach. Carol will also assist in lessons and is in charge of the entertainment program. Geralda is in charge of the Planet bar.

The beach in front of Planet has plenty of space for gear on the beach and shade to relax in by the center. The water is shallow and the platform 250 yards out provides a good visual reference for the transition to deeper water. The rescue boat is a few meters away. Lockers are offered for security of personal gear and 5 mountain bikes are available for guest's use. Rocky can guide you or provide route direction. The bikes are Scotts, with front shocks, and are in good shape and well maintained. Planet offers a weekly surf outing to the northern and eastern beaches of the island which have waves.

Udo has rebuilt and reorganized the club in a very innovative way. Sails are stored in a rack a mere 10 meters from the beach. All booms have adjustable harness lines and all sails 5.5 m2 and smaller have small diameter booms. The boards are stored on new racks which make it easy to find your board and reduce potential board damage. The new board

storage allows boards to be stored with the mastfoot in place so you don't have to deal with installing the mastfoot each time you swap boards. Udo has a number of additional fins in assorted shapes and sizes so you can tune the board the way you like it. All booms have boom protectors and mastfeet have protectors to minimize damage to yourself and your board.

FIX & MIX

Planet gives you a choice between two different rental systems. In the "Fix" system you can reserve one board that will be yours alone to use. You must reserve in advance and let us know exactly what type and size board you want to reserve. There are 30 boards in the Fixed board group. You can look at the Fanatic web site, our wind statistics, and the board size you are accustomed to and be assured that the board you are most likely to use will be available for you. This means that once you select footstrap placement and adjustment you don't have to worry about someone changing it on you. If conditions for the day are not what you expected you can give up your fixed board for the day and use any of the "Mix" or pool system boards. However, this means that your fix board automatically moves into the pool system for the day and is not exclusively yours until the following day. Any boards in the "Fix" group which are not reserved will be part of the "Mix" pool. The Mix system is the typical pool system where any board not in use by someone else is available for your use. There are about 35 boards in the Mix group. Additionally, any boards that are not prebooked under the Fix system move over automatically to the Mix pool. Last year, despite the Fix option, most people selected the pool system and the majority of boards in the Fix system moved over and were available in the pool. The system sounds sort of complicated but the combined systems worked fine last year.

BOARDS

Planet has all new 2002 Fanatic boards. There are 70 boards in all. The board range is displayed below. You can check out our links and www.fanatic.com for more information about the boards.

The boards are the following:

• Viper X Ray 170/150/130
• Bee 164/144/124/104
• Cross 120/110/100/90
• Skate 64/61/59
• Rip 52/56
• Goya 255/250/245

SAILS

Planet will offer Arrows sails this year. Although not well known to Americans the sails are very popular in Europe. If you look at the World Cup photos you'll see some. Arrows have received some great reviews in the windsurfing magazines. The web site usually has some reviews. Check it out at www.arrows-sails.com. The 100 Arrows sails at the club are all 2002 models rigged on small diameter booms. All masts are carbon and the majority of masts are 55% carbon.

The models are the Dragster, Burner, Impact, Trixx, and Graze. The sizes run from 3.2 to 8.0 Beginners rigs in tiny sizes are also available.

KITES, LESSONS

Jorg is a VDWS certified kitesurf instructor and will offer lessons to Planet guests who want to try kitesurfing. The club has 8 boards and 15 kites available. Planet intends to purchase an additional 40 kites and 15 boards by mid February. Jorg has 2 kite instructors assisting him and intends to add at least one more when the new kites arrive. Jorg gives 2 free Introduction to Kitesurfing clinics per week to Planet guests.

Windsurfing lesson packages offer excellent instruction at great rates. Beginners can select a beginner package with two lessons included to get them started on the right foot.

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The Happy Center

Offers the new 2002 F2 boards, including the Maui Project boards, and North sails. The Happy Center is in the shallow, beginner friendly area. This is the place to see and be seen. The platform is right in front of the center about 250 yards away and provides a great reference point for the transition from shallow water to deeper water. Happy pays very close attention to their guests' whereabouts. They also operate the rescue boat. You can feel very safe sailing out of Happy.

Happy is very well organized and professionally run. Kai and Chrissy own and manage the center. They have a friendly and highly competent English speaking staff. Bettina and Mariah will be back this year. Remko also returns to dazzle the crowds with his freestyle skills as well as light up your day with his infectious smile. New this year is an American, Derek Rijff. Derek has been an ABK instructor for several years as well as a tester for Windsurfing magazine. At least three free seminars per week are offered to guests. The seminars cover all techniques from beginner to expert levels. The instructors put on a great synchronized freestyle show every Saturday. Happy has great prices on lessons, the best on the beach. Happy offers periodic excursions such as jungle hikes or shopping trips and the instructors often join guests for dinner. Lockers are provided free of charge to secure personal possessions and 5 Scott mountain bikes with front shocks are available to guests.

Happy uses the pool system. With 95 boards and 131 sails there is plenty of gear. The sail and board range is laid out below. All sails under 5.5 are rigged on small diameter booms. The booms are all ovalized which makes them easy on the hands and all booms are rigged with adjustable harness lines.

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Margarita Extreme

Margarita Extreme is a small new club catering primarily to experienced sailors. The club is run by Xavier Michael who has managed the CNS center for several years. Margarita Extreme offers the new Exocet boards designed and ridden by World Cup ace Patrice Belbeoc'h. In fact Margarita Extreme is an official Test Center for Exocet. The shapes are great and the construction is excellent. The sails are Neil Pryde. The board and sail range is below:

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We encourage you to contact us for help in selecting equipment.

All clubs offer insurance which can be purchased on site. Insurance is recommended.

We offer boogie boards free of charge to our guests. Bicycles are available for use by all Planet and Happy clients. Surfboards and kayaks are available for rent.

We also offer the services of a great travel agency to get you the best airfares.

Ambassador World Travel
416-E Daniel Webster Hwy.
Merrimack, NH 03054
603-424-4715 / or 800-842-4220
Fax 603-424-9820
or email susan@aw-travel.com

Thank you for your interest in Casa Viento Bed & Breakfast, and may the wind hit you right between the shoulder blades.
Call us at
1-800-660-9463
to secure your reservations now!